Hitherto-known nano structures containing carbon atoms include single-walled carbon nanotubes made of a cylindrically-rolled two-dimensional graphene sheet, and multi-walled carbon nanotubes containing such carbon nanotubes.
Carbon nanotubes have extremely high mechanical strength and high temperature resistance, and efficiently discharge electrons under voltage application. With these advantageous properties, carbon nanotubes are expected to be applied to various fields, including chemistry, electronics, and life science.
Known methods of manufacturing carbon nanotubes include arc discharge, laser furnaces, chemical vapor deposition, and the like. However, these methods have a disadvantage in that they can only produce mixtures of carbon nanotubes with various diameters and lengths.
As a replacement for tubular nano structures such as carbon nanotubes having a certain length derived from a continuous linkage of carbon atoms, recent studies have focused attention on cyclic nano structures. For example, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses a cycloparaphenylene compound obtained by using cyclohexanedione and diiodobenzene. This compound has a regularly arranged structure having 12 continuously bonded bivalent aromatic groups.